1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid cartridge.
2. Description of Related Art
A known ink-jet recording apparatus is configured to record an image on a medium by ejecting ink stored in an ink cartridge from nozzles onto the medium. When ink is used up, the ink cartridge is replaced.
A known apparatus, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,459, has a container receiving station configured to receive an ink container, and the container receiving station has latching features. The ink container has corresponding latching features. When the ink container is inserted into the container receiving station, the latching features of the ink container engage the corresponding latching features of the container receiving portion, and thereby the ink container is locked in the container receiving station against urging forces of springs.
In the known apparatus, the ink container needs to pivot from an attitude in which the latching features of the ink container do not engage the corresponding latching features of the container receiving portion to an attitude in which the latching features of the ink container engage the corresponding features of the container receiving portion, so that the ink container is locked against the urging forces of springs. Therefore, a user needs to intentionally apply a force to the rear face of the ink container in a direction (horizontal direction) opposite the direction in which the springs urge the ink container, and in a direction (downward direction) intersecting the direction in which the springs urge the ink container, so that the ink container can pivot and the latching features can engage the corresponding latching features.
Because the springs urge a lower portion of the front face of the ink container, if a user pushes an upper portion (pointed by an arrow in U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,459) of the rear face of the ink container, the ink container pivots upward about a point where the springs urge the ink container. Therefore a user needs to intentionally have the ink container pivot downward after pushing the ink container in the horizontal direction.